Willey, Margaret. Beetle Boy. Minneapolis, MN: Carolrhoda Lab, 2014.  978-1-46772-639-9. 198p. $13.51. Gr. 9-12 

Laid up with a leg injury, Charlie is stuck at his girlfriend’s house until he can manage on his own. She is an excellent nurse and a good cook, but when she starts asking questions about Charlie’s past, terrible memories come flooding back. You see, while Charlie may have been known as a great children’s author of the Beetle Boy series when he was only a child himself, that type of life was more glorified than it really was for him. Charlie’s past haunts his present as he wakes up screaming about giant beetles coming after him and remembers the lonely days dressed up as a beetle, lying to his audience about his age and who really is the author of his stories.

Beetle Boy takes the reader through the struggles of a young man who must deal with the emotional difficulties he suffered from an absentee mother and a father who realized he could make money off of his own son. After grasping for love from babysitters and other authors at book conventions, Charlie flounders in a romantic relationship with his current girlfriend.